Schumer on Leg Strat

MARK HALPERIN: It seems to me the House Judiciary Committee is going to be a big piece of this if there is going to be a strategy to move some legislation through. What are your thoughts about how to get Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee engaged and willing to and anxious to move forward with something?

CHUCK SCHUMER: Well, I think Heller, the fact that we’ve had the Heller decision, helps us very significantly because now no one — it’s national established law that there is a right to bear arms and that gives those who are pro-gun a little more flexibility and takes the hard, the really militant organizations, like Gun Owners of America, gives them less strength. But, second, I think it’s really important, what we talked about before, to make this a broader issue. Gun control in reasonable ways, yes. But also mental illness, violence, and those kinds of things. When I talk to my Republican colleagues in the Senate, who are pro-NRA, in the last few days, they stress that over and over again.